


Case Study

by stelladora



Category: Kuroshitsuji | Black Butler
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-13
Updated: 2014-07-13
Packaged: 2018-02-08 15:26:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,132
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1946319
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/stelladora/pseuds/stelladora
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ciel asks Sebastian about his previous contractees.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Case Study

“What is hell like?” Ciel asked as he got ready for bed. The question had been on his mind lately, and there was no one better to ask than a primary source. Sebastian untied the eye patch from the young master’s head, the last step of their nightly ritual, and the pink contract shimmered softly in the dim candlelight. “I should probably prepare myself for what it will be like,” the boy said with a hint of bitter mirth.

“What do you mean, young master?” Sebastian asked as he let the black ribbons slip through his fingers onto the nightstand.

“Well, there’s certainly no way I’ll end up in heaven,” Ciel pointed out as he climbed under the covers. It was a cold January night, and he’d taken to using two quilts on his bed.

“You will not spend eternity in hell, either,” Sebastian said as if explaining something to a very young, slow child. “When you die, I will consume your soul.”

Ciel gazed up at him, the gears in his brain turning as he pieced things together. “I know that, obviously, but I… I don’t know what that means, exactly,” the boy confessed. “Will I not still end up in hell?”

“No, young master,” Sebastian said, smiling a little at the boy’s innocence. Despite everything, his young master still surprised him by showing a remarkable amount of naïveté and innocence, on occasion. “You will simply not exist anymore. Anywhere. Neither on earth, nor in heaven, nor in hell. Your soul will be struck from the records, so to speak.”

As Ciel thought about this new information, he silently patted the side of the bed, indicating for Sebastian to sit down next to him. “So everything will just… _stop_ for me? And I’ll become a part of you?” he mused.

Sebastian sat down, raising an eyebrow at the question. He’d never heard it phrased quite that way. “I suppose you will, if you want to put it like that. That makes me little more than a sum of all the other souls I’ve eaten,” he realized with a chuckle.

“Tell me about them,” Ciel said, the request quiet, befitting the dim light and late hour. “All the other humans you’ve made contracts with.”

Sebastian paused, thinking back over his thousands of years on earth. “There have been many,” he pointed out. “Far too many to remember all of them.”

“The ones you do remember, then. The important ones,” Ciel prompted him.

“Very well…” Sebastian said, searching through his vast memory. “There was one girl, I remember, who summoned me to save her village from the Mongol invasion in 1255. There was a war raging, and everyone considered it inevitable that this village would be destroyed. She sold her soul for the protection of her village, but it didn’t do much good. With all the neighboring fields and forests trampled by the invaders, food was scarce. I took her soul, and the villagers all died within a year anyway. And in 1647, I was summoned by a man in Portugal who wanted his brother to be free of an execution charge. His brother was a pirate who had gotten arrested by the Portuguese government. I saved him from the scaffold; he found a new ship and crew and was never heard from again.”

“Are all these stories sad?” Ciel interrupted him. The boy’s voice had a hard edge to it, but was still somehow soft, and Sebastian detected a hint of worry in it.

“Young master, you have sold your soul to a demon. Surely you’re not naïve enough to expect a happy ending?” Sebastian asked him, pitying the boy.

Ciel glared at him for a second, then crossed his arms and looked down at the covers of the bed. “I never imagined that I would be just a story in the end,” he mumbled.

“The end isn’t here yet, young master,” Sebastian reminded him. “But I assure you, when it comes, you will be my favorite story.”

Ciel rolled his eyes at Sebastian, covering up the blush on his cheeks with bravado. “You’re surprisingly sentimental for a demon, you know.”

“I suppose I am. It is odd that I’ve been by your side for three years now, and yet we still surprise each other,” Sebastian mused, a smirk on his lips.

The wind rattled the panes in the window near the bed, and Ciel’s gaze shifted to look at the cloudy night sky. “Exactly three years, today,” he said quietly.

Sebastian was silent for a moment. Of course he knew the date, but he hadn’t expected the young master to bring it up. In his experience, Ciel wasn’t one to care about dates or anniversaries. “Yes, young master,” Sebastian said, his expression newly solemn, copying Ciel’s.

“Stay here tonight,” Ciel ordered as he lay down in bed. It had been their custom, when Ciel had first returned to the Phantomhive manor, to have Sebastian stay in his bedroom to protect him. After the nightmares had stopped, Sebastian’s presence was no longer required, but tonight Ciel felt he wanted Sebastian nearby.

“Yes, my lord,” Sebastian said, getting up to stand at the foot of the bed. Ciel caught his arm and held it, pulling him back. Sebastian looked at him questioningly, but Ciel offered no explanation and seemed too embarrassed to meet Sebastian’s eye. “You mean in your bed with you?” Sebastian asked in disbelief.

“It’s cold,” Ciel replied by way of explanation.

Sebastian smiled down at his master, then stepped away in order to remove his tailcoat, trousers, and shoes. Ciel moved over in the bed, which was so large it dwarfed his small frame even more, and pulled back the covers for Sebastian. The demon lay down next to Ciel and allowed the boy to shyly cuddle close to him.

“You’re warm,” Ciel murmured, his eyes closed as he pressed himself against Sebastian’s chest.

“Demons’ bodies run at a higher temperature than humans’,” Sebastian explained, his voice low. A few minutes passed in silence, neither of them asleep. “Young master…” Sebastian began quietly. “Are you afraid to die?”

“No,” Ciel replied without hesitation. He opened his eyes and stared at Sebastian’s shoulder, apparently unwilling to meet the demon’s red eyes. “Most people die of gruesome accidents or illnesses. Or they’re murdered for absurd reasons. I don’t have to worry about that. At least when my time comes, I’ll know what’s happening, and I’ll be killed by someone I love.”

Sebastian didn’t respond; instead, he thought about Ciel’s words as his young master sank into a dreamless sleep. In all his years on earth, humans could still surprise him. And in his three years with Ciel Phantomhive, the young boy had proved to be one of the most interesting specimens available.


End file.
